


Yashee and The Nowhereman

by SS_Chaos_Sauce



Category: BomBARDed, BomBARDed (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, angst that becomes fluff, march of the arts 2018, mota2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-07-01 04:37:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15766740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SS_Chaos_Sauce/pseuds/SS_Chaos_Sauce
Summary: Rhiannon decides to get revenge. Randy and Raz’ul bond a little. Yashee finds her strength.





	Yashee and The Nowhereman

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladybug114](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybug114/gifts).



> My MoTA work for Laura, who asked for angst that became fluff, I hope I delivered! Happy BomBirthday! Ily!

After their harrowing adventure in Basom, Randy, Raz’ul, and Yashee retired to their respective rooms. Yashee missed the band’s night time snuggles, but she could feel how tense Raz’ul was, so they separated for the night. Behind closed doors, Raz’ul plucked a melancholy tune, somber yet beautiful. Yashee left her door open and let the music drift in. She rested on her bed and started to read over her journal, reliving the excitement and terror of the past week. She hummed and add notes to her writing, elaborating on a detail here, making a joke there. She didn’t hear the sound of footsteps in the hall until it was too late. A shadow fell across her bed. Rhiannon gave Yashee a little wave, waggling her remaining fingers. “You should really close the door.” Yashee’s heart skipped a beat as the world stilled around them as Rhiannon cast silence. Yashee stood and pulled herself into a fighting stance, she towered over Rhiannon, but the half elf had experience and cunning. They squared off. Rhiannon moved first, swinging her leg high. Yashee caught it and pulled her in, moving to punch her. Rhiannon leaned in to the pull, using her momentum to force Yashee off balance. Rhiannon jerked her leg free and caught Yashee around the waist, tackling her. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a bottle and a rag. Uncorking the bottle, she dumped some of the contents on the rag, and held it over Yashee’s mouth and nose. Yashee struggled against the cloth, but whatever the liquid was made her foggy. In her last conscious moments, she reached out and grabbed her mallets, pulling them in and trying to put them in her pocket. After Yashee passed out Rhiannon sat back on her heels. She looked over the half orc and tried to figure exactly what she was going to do now. She had come here to take Randy back to the Nowhereman, but now she had Yashee. Standing, Rhiannon closed and locked the door, the she grabbed the half orc by the arm and hoisted her up on to her shoulder. She nudged the window open with foot and looked down, a two story drop, not bad but not ideal. Rhiannon reached in her pouch again and removed a smooth stone with the rune for feather fall carved in it. She smashed it under boot and jumped, the spell cushioning their drop. The crush rock was the only sign of their struggle. Dragging Yashee, Rhiannon made her way off of campus and into the forest. 

 

“Yashee! You’ve been locked in your room all day, I know that your last assignment was, er, difficult, so to say, but you need to join the rest of the student body.” Symbol was growing impatient with Yashee. Raz’ul and Randy told him that she had failed to appear at voice training, and that she hadn’t come out of her room since they had gotten back. “Yashee, I’m coming in, I need to know if you’re okay.” He pulled out the master key and unlocked the door. He pushed it open and froze. Yashee’s desk chair was knocked backwards, journal face down on the floor. The window was left open. He moved over to it and saw the crushed powder on the sill. Turning from the window, he searched for a note or message, but he found nothing but Yashee’s empty mallet holster. Symbol backed out of the room and went to get the boys. 

 

“We have to got look for her!” Raz’ul was standing on a chair and looking Symbol right in the eye. “We can’t let her get hurt!”  
“Out if the question Raz’ul, it’s my responsibility to keep you safe. I’m not going to put you in danger! You two are staying here and that’s final.”  
“But, Splash, she’s our friend, we love her! I don’t know what we’d do without her...”  
“I know Raz’ul, believe me, I know. I’ll bring her home. I promise. I’ll bring our Yashee home.”  
While Raz’ul and Symbol argued, Randy walked to the window. He pinched some of the powder between his fingers, feeling the grains. He brought his hand up to his nose and smelled the familiar sulfur of a rune stone. “Rhiannon.” His voice came out no louder than a whisper, but it drew Raz’ul and Symbol’s attention. “Randy, what do you mean?”  
“I mean Rhiannon. That three fingered merc was here.”  
“Randy, you can’t go after her, you know that right? It’s far too dangerous, you could get seriously injured, or even killed.” Splash sounded deadly serious.  
“Who cares. It’s me she’s after anyway, might as well give her what she wants.” Randy’s tone was unnatural and dark.  
“Randy,” Raz’ul stepped down from the chair and approached his friend, “Is this Eddie talking?”  
“No, Raz’ul, it’s me talking! I’m who Rhiannon really wants! I’m the reason Yashee is in danger! I’m the one who should save her, it’s my fault!” Randy’s voice broke a little and he turned away.  
“Buddy, it’s not your fault. Rhiannon’s grudge isn’t your fault.” Raz’ul put his hand on Randy’s shoulder, but he shrugged it off.  
“Don’t. Don’t try and make it better. You don’t know what I’ve done.” Randy pushed past Raz’ul and Symbol and out the door. “Raz’ul, promise me, please, that you will try and keep Randy from going after her.” Symbol looked worried, but Raz’ul shook his head. “Symbol, I’m not going to stop him. I’m going with him.”  
Symbol could tell he was serious, the bards never used his real name. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I know. I had to try. I’m going to ride to Silk Groove with Mitch to make sure she’s not with Wesley. Make sure you take your Ira Glasses. And for the love the gods, please stay safe. I can’t lose you too.” Raz’ul slung Usomethin over his shoulder, and turned to follow Randy. He looked over his shoulder and saw the worry in Symbol’s face. “You won’t.”

 

Yashee awoke in an unfamiliar tent, her arms and legs bound and gag tied in her mouth. She shimmed into a sitting position and looked around. Beside her was a worn bedroll, containing the sleeping form of Rhiannon. Yashee also noticed that the tent flap had been tied open. She started to slowly scoot towards the exit. “I wouldn’t bother with that. We’re in the middle of Dire wolf territory, you won’t make it far.” Rhiannon sat up and stretched, rolling her neck lazily. “Good morning sunshine, you sure did sleep a lot longer than I thought you would.” Yashee froze at the entrance of the tent. As if to punctuate Rhiannon’s point, a howl sounded in the distance. “You might as well come and eat some breakfast, if you’re good, the gag can stay off.”  
Reluctantly, Yashee shuffled her way into the center of the tent. She sat down where she had woken in up, but kept her eyes on Rhiannon. The half elf knelt by her pack and began to rummage through it. She pulled out two apples and an intricately carved silver bracer. She stood and held the bracer out to Yashee. “Give me your arm. I don't want you doing any bardic magic, and this will keep that from happening.” Yashee held out her bound wrists, reluctant but not willing to incur Rhiannon’s wrath, and the bracer was locked in place. Rhiannon then tugged the gag down so it hung around Yashee’s neck. For a moment she stayed in Yashee’s face, taunting her with how easy it would to break her nose, then she placed one of the apples in her hand and pulled away. Yashee mumbled something under her breath. Rhiannon locked eyes and her voice lost the chipper facade. “What did you say to me?”  
“I said, thank you.” Yashee’s eyes were cast down and her voice was as quiet. Momentarily lost for words, Rhiannon barked a laugh and turned to her pack. “We need to get a move on. Boss man is gonna wanna to talk to you.” She finished repacking her bag and bedroll. She motioned Yashee to leave the tent. She hoisted Yashee to her feet and led her to a tree. Pulling a length of rope from her bag, Rhiannon tethered Yashee’s hands to the trunk of the tree, “Wouldn’t want you wandering off, now would we?”, and went to pack up the tent. While her back was turned, Yashee tried to loosen the binding around her wrist, working at it until she could move her hands an inch apart. Rhiannon returned and un tied her from the tree. Yashee stared down at the half-elf, puzzled by self assured she was. “How are you so confident? I’m twice your size, Rhiannon.” Rhiannon laughed and causally pulled the knife from her belt. She ran the blade under her fingernail and looked at Yashee. “Well, for one, you won’t be able to run with your legs bound like that. Two, you haven’t made a move towards me and you’ve been untethered for a while now. Three, I don’t think you like hurting people. And finally, you and I both know your friends are coming to rescue you anyway, so why waste your energy. Now come one, I want to get to base camp before night fall.”

 

Raz’ul caught Randy attempting to climb out the window in his dorm. “Randy, be careful. Two stories is a long way to fall for a halfling.” Randy sighed and pulled his leg back in. “What do you want Raz’ul? I’m not staying here, you know that.”  
“Relax, Randy, I’m coming with you.” Raz’ul lifted his pack in one hand and a bundle of rope in the other. “Might as well climb down in style.” He said as he tossed Randy the rope. Randy tied it to the foot of his bed and tossed the other end out the window. He turned to Raz’ul and nodded, before grabbing his pack in climbing out the window. Raz’ul followed him. Together they two set out for the road leading towards Not Basom. Randy led them off the path and into the woods, guided by his past. Raz’ul stayed silent, he knew how important saving Yashee was to Randy. By nightfall they had found where Rhiannon must have made camp earlier. All that was left was a rough square of flattened grass and some bits of rope. Randy’s face was hidden by shadow. “We’re a days walk from base camp. If it really was Rhiannon that’s took her, that’s where they’ll be.”  
“Randy, are you sure you can do this? I mean, you already escaped from the Nowhereman once, are you going to be okay goin back in?” Randy turned and pushed his hair out of his face. “Raz’ul.” His voice broke. “Let’s set up camp for the night, bud.” Raz’ul put his hand on Randy’s shoulder. Randy looked up at him and Raz’ul saw tears in the halfling’s eyes. “Come here. It’s gonna be okay. We’ll get her back.” Raz’ul pulled him into a hug and he could feel his friends body shake with the tears. “The world doesn’t rest on your shoulders. You can lay down your weight. Yashee’s strong, she’ll be alright.” Randy cried in his arms. Eventually he calmed enough for them to lay down their bed rolls. They spent the night right next to each other, but Yashee’s absence felt like a mile between them. 

 

Rhiannon and Yashee walked in silence. Yashee might have been nice, but not nice enough to make small talk with the insane half elf she had cut two fingers off of. Rhiannon hadn’t said anything since they left camp that morning it didn’t look like that was changing. Bored, stressed, scared, and angry, Yashee did the thing she had been taught to since birth to express her feelings. She sang. “Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling  
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.”  
Rhiannon stopped. “What. Are. You. Doing.” Her words were clipped and angry. Yashee looked smug. “I’m singing. I’m a bard. What do you expect?”  
“Well, stop it or else.”  
Yashee scoffed. “Or else what? You haven’t laid a single hand on me this whole time. I can’t run away, we already know I won’t try and kill you.” She lifted her arms to display her bracer. “I can’t do magic. I’m bored, we’ve been walking in silence for hours, there’s no one else in these woods. Even if there were, you want Randy to come after me. Now if you don’t mind.” Yashee cleared her throat, leaving Rhiannon in stunned silence, and she continued her song. 

“Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling  
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.  
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,  
It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.  
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,  
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,  
It's I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow,  
Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so!”

 

Raz’ul awoke to Randy packing up camp. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon. The silent routine reminded Raz’ul of the mine back home. Feeling homesick he recalled the song the miners would sing while they worked. His low voice trembled around the tree trunks. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” He rolled up his bed roll and gathered his things. He heard breath catch in Randy’s throat. Quiet and hesitant he, too began to sing. Their voices rose and fell with the somber beat of the hymn.  
“I once was lost, but now am found,  
Was blind, but now I see.  
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,  
And grace my fears relieved;  
How precious did that grace appear  
The hour I first believed.”  
As they hit the second verse they began to walk. Their footsteps matching the rhythm.  
“ The Lord hath promised good to me,  
His word my hope secures;  
He will my shield and portion be  
As long as life endures.  
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,  
Bright shining as the sun,  
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise  
Than when we first begun.”  
After the song finished Randy was the first to break the silence. “My mother used to sing that to us whenever we had nightmares. I didn’t know anyone else knew it.” Raz’ul didn’t comment on us, he didn’t want to pour salt in that open wound. “The miners would sing it before they began their day. My father always said it was a prayer to the gods for protection.”  
“We need a little protection don’t we.” Randy stopped suddenly, tilting his head and holding a finger to his lips. Raz’ul stopped and listened as well. A voice floated through the air from far ahead. “Yashee.” They said in unison. 

 

They had reached the Nowhereman base camp just as the sun started to touch the horizon. “I’m putting you gag back in, no need to risk my neck with your singing.” Yashee didn’t protest as the gag was tied firmly back in place. She had been scared earlier, but now, standing here on the edge of enemy territory, she was terrified. Rhiannon shoved her forward and they walked into camp. She led Yashee to the center of camp. Looking around she saw that the campsite was teeming with the bandits, and every single set of eyes was on her. “I’ve got to talk to the boss man in private. I’d stay put if I was you.” With that, Rhiannon left Yashee alone in the middle of the camp. She turned slowly in a circle, she has no escape, people surrounded her. So she waited. And she waited. After about 15 minutes a tall masked figure ducked out of the tent. He leaned on a thin, silver tipped cane and stared at her silently. The way he held himself and the way he was dressed made Yashee think that he must of been The Nowhereman. “Well, my dear, you are certainly an interesting find. Rhiannon has told me all about y’alls earlier meeting. Quite a doozy of a fight. She also told me of your relationship with our dear Randall. Oh, how we’ve missed him.” Through her gag Yashee attempted to speak. “What was that, dear? Rhiannon, take off her gag, I want to know what she possibly has to say.” Rhiannon came out from the tent, staring daggers at Yashee. Carefully, she moved behind Yashee to untie the gag, and whispered in her ear. “Wow, you really are stupid, aren’t you.” The gag undone, Yashee took a moment to flex her jaw before speaking. “I said, it’s Randy. Not Randall.” The Nowhereman sighed. “Is he really still trying that ridiculous nickname going. It’s so childish. Randy. He’s grown. Never mind that now. Right now, we have to figure what to do with you. Something tells me that despite your bulk, you’re not strong enough to become one of us. If we let you live, we’ll have to relocate, but if we kill you it will make Randall harder to handle. Quite a predicament. Tell me sweetheart, do you have a use, any reason why I shouldn’t slit your neck right now?” Yashee squared her shoulders, she was afraid but she refused to show it. “You’ve clearly done your research, shouldn’t you know I’m a bard?”  
“Ooh, you’ve got some spunk! Maybe you could be a Nowhereman after all. You’re gonna want to learn how to hold your tongue, lest you lose it. Now dearie, if you’re so confident in your talent, why don’t you sing for us?”  
“A good bard doesn’t perform for free.” The humor dropped from The Nowhereman’s voice. “So be it. Rhinannon, the gag.” Rhiannon tied the gag firmly back in her mouth and grabbed her arm. “Take the bard to pit. 12 hours with no food, water, or light will teach her some respect.” The thought of being trapped in a lightless pit for the next 12 hours hit Yashee like a punch to the gut. She struggled against Rhinannon. The Nowhereman raised his cane and struck Yashee, dazing her. She dropped to her knees, her head swimming. She felt the tip of the cane tilt her head back, and she saw The Nowhereman’s solid black eyes. “There are somethings that are worse than death. You would be wise to learn that.” Rhiannon hauled the stunned half-orc to her feet and dragged her backwards. Yashee stumbled, but kept her footing. After walking for a minute Rhiannon stopped in front a covered pit. She threw back the tarp and dropped down a rope ladder. “Climb.” She shoved Yashee towards the hole. “Climb down, or I’ll push you down. I won’t say it again.” Scared, Yashee began to climb. The hole was close to 15ft deep. When Yashee got off the ladder, Rhiannon pulled it back up. The last thing Yashee saw was Rhiannon smirking, then the tarp blacked out the sky. She felt like the world was closing in on her. Her arms were still tied together, but she managed to reach into her pockets. She fished out her mallets. She didn’t have anything else on her, no way to make light. To keep her panic at bay she did what her mother did for her when she got scared. She played her drums. After a few hours of drumming her exhaustion began to catch up with her. Her stomach growled and she realized that the apple Rhiannon had given her this morning was the last thing she ate. She was thirsty too. The stress of the past few days poured down on her. She slumped down, curling up on her side and cried. She didn’t know when she fell asleep, but she awoke to soft daylight. Instinctively she grabbed her mallets and stuffed them in her pocket. The rope ladder thudded against the wall and Rhiannon slid down. Wordlessly she hauled Yashee to her feet, removed her gag, and dragged her back towards the ladder. Slowly, Yashee made her way back up the ladder, Rhiannon kept her from falling off. At the top of the pit was The Nowhereman. He leaned casually on his cane. “Good morning dear, I presume your ready to cooperate.” Yashee kept her head down. The Nowhereman chuckled, “Are you hungry? Why don’t you sing for your supper.” He placed the silver tip of his cane under her chin and made her face him. “Don’t be shy dear, I bet you have a beautiful singing voice.” Yashee swallowed against the tip of the cane and began to sing, her voice thin and weak. “Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling.” She felt the pain of the lyrics deep in her heart. She stopped singing for The Nowhereman and she started to sing for herself.  
“But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,  
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,  
You'll come and find the place where I am lying,  
And kneel and say an Ave there for me.  
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,  
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,  
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,  
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!”  
The sound of The Nowhereman’s clapping broke the trance, and she heard the echoes of her voice fade among the trees. Yashee fell to her knees. A water skin landed with a thud in the dirt in the front of her. Weakly she brought it to her lips and drank. “Good girl. Drink up. Rhiannon, take her to my tent and give her some breakfast. I believe our dear Randall will be here soon, I need to freshen up.”

 

“Randy, stand back. I’m going to shift.” Raz’ul tossed his pack and his axe to the side and concentrated. He focused, closing his eyes and drawing his energy in. “Raz’ul, this isn’t a game.” Raz’ul opened his eyes and looked at his paws. A hedgehog? Really? Perfect timing. He focused again and felt himself grow, opening his eyes he stared down at the paws of a black bear. “Get on, we don’t have much time.” Randy collected Raz’ul’s things and climbed on his back. “Raz’ul are you okay? Why did you turn into a hedgehog?”  
“It’s nothing. Just stress. I’m fine.” Dismissing Randy’s concerns, Raz’ul bounded off in the direction of the singing. He covered a day’s worth of travel in an hour. Randy slid off of Raz’ul’s back, and he shifted back to his dwarf form. He took a moment to catch his breath and turned to Randy. “Where would she be?” Randy swallowed his fear. “If he was keeping her anywhere, it would be his tent. He’s expecting us.” Randy paused and turned back to Raz’ul. “What if she’s hurt? Or not here? Raz’ul, what-what if he is there? I don’t know if can do it again. I won’t be able to face him. That life is behind, I can’t- I won’t go back. But I can’t leave Yashee. I-I don’t know what to do, Raz, I don’t know.”  
“Take a deep breath, it’ll be okay. We’re here. I’m here. You’re not going anywhere. Step 1, you’ll have to cast pass without trace. Then, we’ll sneak to the back of his tent. We’ll duck in, get her out, and get the heck out of Dodge, okay? We can do this.”  
Randy pulled together his last bit of bravery and pressed a few keys on his organ, a blanket of magic cloaked them. “Let’s do this.”

 

Yashee was scared, hungry and angry, but mostly she was tired of being helpless. Rhiannon had given her a bowl of porridge and a water skin, then left her alone in his tent. It was time to make her move. She didn’t trust the Nowhereman’s food, instead she used her new found solitude to work on the knots binding her feet. For a thief who lived in the wilderness, Rhiannon was hopeless at knots. After a few minutes her legs were free. She stood and looked around the tent. It was lavish, silk cloths and fine jewelry decorated the inside. She spotted a woman’s hat pin among the finery. Yashee grabbed and clumsily began to undo the knots binding her hands. “What, pray tell, are you doing?” The Nowhereman sounded annoyed. “After all my generosity you’re trying to run away? Quite rude.” Yashee froze, a rabbit caught in a hunter’s sight. Then she unfroze. She called on the anger she had pushing down for the past three days. Her vision tinted red. She snapped her frayed bonds, but her magic was still suppressed by her braver. “Oh, Yashee, what’s a bard with out her magic?” Yashee bared her teeth and pulled her mallets. “A barbarian.” 

 

Raz’ul and Randy crept around the edge of camp. Half a dozen tents lay between them and a The Nowhereman’s tent. “Oh, no.” Randy’s eyes grew wide. Raz’ul looked up and saw a tall masked figure standing in front of the main tent. “I take it that’s him.”  
“Raz’ul... I- I...”  
“Randy, we don’t have time. I’m holding out for a hero, Randy.” The spell surged over him and Randy felt iron in his veins. They watched as The Nowhereman entered his tent. “Randy, bows are chance, let’s go.” Before Randy could back down, Raz’ul sprinted towards the tent. Randy followed, but he tripped after a dozen feet. He scrambled back to his hands and knees. A dagger pressed to his throat forces his chin up and he saw Rhiannon. “Welcome home, Randall.”

 

The mallet was supposed to hit his face, but the silver head of his cane blocked its path. The Nowhereman pulled the head free of the cane, revealing an razor thin rapier. With out missing a beat, Yashee slammed her other mallet into his porcelain mask. It shattered like bone and he stumbled back, disappearing out of the tent. Still enraged, Yashee charged forward. The forced of her exit pushes The Nowhereman back more, right into the swing of Raz’ul’s axe. Usomethin bit into The Nowhereman’s leg, but before a lethal blow could land a cry broke the quiet camp. “Yashee! Raz’ul!” Rhiannon grinned behind Randy, her blade cutting lightly into his throat. “Drops your weapons, that is, if you want dear Randall to live.” Yashee panted, “It’s. Randy.” Before Rhiannon could react, she grabbed The Nowhereman. She hefted him up and tore off his mask. She was surprised to find that she didn’t know the crow underneath. After all her rage, she had not expected a stranger. Nonetheless she grabbed his legs and threw him at Rhiannon. The three of them fell back, Rhiannon’s knife flung from her grip. Raz’ul ran over and grabbed Randy’s shirt collar, pulling him from the pile. “Yashee, we need to go, now!” Raz’ul’s urgency shook the rage from Yashee’s mind. They ran together towards the woods. The Nowhereman’s voice called after them, wet with blood. “You can’t run forever Randall! Your ghosts will always find you!”

 

They ran for an hour or so, then Yashee stumbled. “Yashee? It’s alright, we can stop. Don’t push yourself too far.”  
“Raz’ul, I’m fine. I just tripped over a root or something.” She righted herself and tries to continue, but the legs buckled underneath her and she went to her knees. “That’s it. We’re making camp.” Raz’ul dropped his things and sat down. “Randy, sit. Yashee, sit. Neither of you are in any shape to run anymore. Let’s call Splash and see if we can get a ride home.” Randy fidgeted, “They could be behind us. What if they catch up?”  
“The Nowhereman isn’t going anywhere fast, and with what we did to him, he’s going to want to make a personal appearance. All we can do now is rest.” Raz’ul rummaged in his bag and pulled out his Ira Glass. “Splash.” The voice on the other end sounded tired and stressed. “Raz’ul? Are you ok? Is Randy hurt? Are you hurt?”  
“We found her, Splash. Yashee’s safe.”  
“Hi Splash...” A thud came out of the Ira Glass followed by a muffled sob. They could hear the quiet sound of Mitch’s voice. “Symbol she’s back. It okay. She’s safe. I know. It’s okay.” The Ira Glass rustle for a moment and they could hear Mitch more clearly. “Kids? Where are you, Symbol and I are coming to get you.”

 

Yashee was tired and scared, but she was also so happy. She, Randy, and Raz’ul sat huddled against a tree. She pulled the boys closer to her and tried to feel safe. After they had called Splash and Mitch, Randy had picked the lock on her anti-magic bracer. She stared at her empty wrist. She hummed under her breath, a song her father sang to her. Raz’ul perked up and picked up Usomethin. He began to play along. Randy was pulled out of his dazed state by the tune. He smiled and joined in. “Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side?” The song felt warm in their throats. The runes on Usomethin glowed and Yashee saw runes glow on Randy and Raz’ul’s throats as well. She looked up and saw a rainbow spread above them, leading into the forest. As they sang the rainbow grew brighter.  
“Rainbows are visions  
They're only illusions  
And rainbows have nothing to hide  
So we've been told and some chose to  
Believe it  
But I know they're wrong wait and see  
Someday we'll find it  
The Rainbow Connection  
The lovers, the dreamers and me”  
A cart pulled by two horses burst from the woods underneath the rainbow. Mitch pulled them to a halt and Splash jumped down. He ran to them and Yashee hopped up to meet him. She grabbed him in a hug. “Yashee, I was so worried. I’m so sorry. This has to be my fault. It’s my job to protect you. Y’all are my responsibility.”  
“Hey, Splash, don’t worry. I’m safe now, you came and got me. Let’s go home.” Raz’ul and Randy were standing a little off to the side watching the reunion. Mitch put a hand on each of their shoulders. “He was worried about you, too, you know. Go on.” He pushes them forward gently. Yashee was mildly surprised when she felt two more join the hug, but she adjusted, leaning down and scooping all three into her arms. “Come on Mitch, let’s go home.” She put them down and she and the boys climbed into the back. Splash hopped back up front and pulled Mitch next to him. As they turned the cart around to follow the rainbow home, they heard snoring behind them. Splash looked into the back to see his three bards asleep in a messy pile. He smiled and looked at Mitch. “Let’s go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Big shout out to Laura (@ladybug114) for their amazing gift to me <3, and to the BardCord for helping bring the dream of MoTA to life, especially AB (nagasha)


End file.
